Personal Injury Law

New York Construction Accident Kills Worker

A Jackson Heights worker was killed in a New York construction accident after he fell from scaffolding while working on an elevator shaft in a Manhattan building. The New York Post reports that the 51-year-old worker was inside an elevator shaft on the third floor of a construction site at 603 W. 129th St. when he fell from scaffolding to the bottom of the shaft. The man was transported to a local hospital where he died.

This man's death was apparently the first fatal New York City construction accident in 2010. Last year, the city's Department of Buildings reported an 84 percent drop in construction accident fatalities from 19 in 2008 to three in 2009. However, the total number of reported construction accidents rose from 151 in 2008 to 224 in 2009 and the total number of reported injuries rose from 178 in 2008 to 246 in 2009. Officials say the increase in the number of incidents can be attributed to better accident reporting by construction companies.

Falls from scaffolding are the most common types of fatal accidents, which occur at New York construction sites. According to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), a number of scaffolding accidents occur because scaffolds are not constructed per manufacturer's guidelines or companies fail to install proper fall protection systems such as guardrails.

Full post as published by New York Injury Talk Blog on March 11, 2010 (boomark / email).